The 2018 Big 12 Championships continue tonight in Austin, Texas. Swimmers will compete individually in the 500 free, 200 IM, and 50 free. We’ll also see finals of the 400 medley relays and the women’s 1-meter diving. One of the highlights of this morning’s prelims wasTate Jackson‘s quick 18.99 in the 50 free prelims, marking his first time below 19 seconds individually. He’ll battle for the title with All-American teammates Brett Ringgold and Joseph Schooling.

WOMEN’S 500 FREE:

Texas freshmanEvie Pfeifer dropped over a second and a half from her lifetime best, earning a likely NCAA bid with her winning time. Teammates Quinn Carrozza and Lauren Case followed for a Longhorn sweep of the top 3. Carrozza dipped under the 2017 NCAA invite time (4:41.84), but has been slightly faster this season with a 4:40.97 from the Texas Invite.

Kansas’ Jenny Nusbaum was the only other swimmer to crack 4:50, turning in a 4:47.62 for 4th place. TeammateLauryn Parrish (4:50.40) battled Iowa State’s Mary Kate Luddy (4:50.68) for 5th, outpacing Luddy enough on the final 50 to out-touch her.

MEN’S 500 FREE:

The Texas freshmen battled for the win, with Parker Neri leading by a second with 100 yards to go. Teammate JohnThomas Larson made a late charge, hammering home in 24.13 on the final 50, but came up just short as Neri held on for the gold. Both men were over a second under the 2017 NCAA Invite time (4:16.67), finishing ahead of All-American Townley Haas. Neri dropped almost a second tonight, while Larson knocked a little over a second from his lifetime best.

Fellow Longhorn freshman Chris Yeager broke the 4:20 barrier for the first time, touching in 4:19.44 to hold off a hard-charging Jeff Newkirk (4:19.74) on the final 50. Yeager has made huge improvements today. According to the USA Swimming database, his best time before the meet was a 4:24.01. Another Texas freshman, Austin Katz, dropped over a second and a half to take 6th in 4:20.20.

WOMEN’S 200 IM:

Nora McCullagh cracked 1:57 for the first time, leading from start to finish as she knocked almost 6 tenths from her best. West Virginia’s Morgan Bullock and Texas’ Brooke Hansen battled for the silver. Bullock had the edge on fly, but Hansen moved ahead through the back and breast legs. On the freestyle, however, Bullock bounced back, coming home in 27.73 to get the job done. Bullock continued to make huge improvements at this meet, dropping over 3 seconds from her former best. Texas’ Maxine Wolters (2:00.60) used her front-end speed to edge out Kansas’ Elizabeth Armstrong (2:00.83) to round out the top 5.

MEN’S 200 IM:

Jonathan Roberts and Ryan Harty battled closely through the front half, separated by 3 tenths as Roberts led through the back leg. Harty took over the lead with a 29.77 breast split, turning about half a second ahead of Roberts. Through the free leg, Roberts made a big move, coming home in 24.50 to Harty’s 25.70 as he brought home the gold. Both men were under the 2017 NCAA Invite time (1:44.34). West Virginia’s Nate Carr rounded out the top 3, slightly outpacing Texas’ Mason Tenney (1:46.33) on all but the breast leg.

WOMEN’S 1-METER DIVING:

GOLD: Alison Gibson, Texas, 356.25

SILVER: Meghan O’Brien, Texas, 352.30

BRONZE: Murphy Bromberg, Texas, 320.75

Texas’ Alison Gibson and Meghan O’Brien had a close contest, with Gibson pulling off the win by about 4 points. Both women were above the former Meet Record and Big 12 Record, which stood as a 346.35 done by Maren Taylor in 2014.

WOMEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY:

GOLD: Texas, 3:29.51

SILVER: West Virginia, 3:37.43

BRONZE: Kansas, 3:38.53

Claire Adams established Texas’ lead up front with a 51.72 back leg. Kennedy Lohman, a transfer in her first season with the Horns, took over the breast leg in 58.21. Lohman handed off to butterflier Remedy Rule (52.18), and Rebecca Millard (47.40) sealed the deal on the anchor leg. Notably, the Longhorns’ Lauren Case had the fastest fly split with a 51.82 from the B relay.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

1. University of Texas 374 2. University of Kansas 218
3. West Virginia University 199 4. Iowa State University 176
5. Texas Christian University 145

MEN’S 400 MEDLEY RELAY:

GOLD: Texas, 3:05.71

SILVER: West Virginia, 3:09.78

BRONZE: TCU, 3:17.02

Austin Katz jumped in first for Texas, putting up a 46.26 on the backstroke leg. Austin Temple swam the breast leg in 52.55, while Joseph Schooling put up a 45.09 on the fly. Sprint ace Brett Ringgold finished things off with his 41.81 free split. West Virginia’s Jake Armstrong put up the fastest breast split of the field, 51.81, to help his team to silver.

MEN’S TEAM SCORES THROUGH DAY 2:

1. University of Texas 380 2. West Virginia University 290
3. Texas Christian University 215

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Steve Swims

I think it would mean a lot to these young college guys if Phelps showed his support by coming to this meet. If I could talk to Phelps now I would say, “It’s not that hard dude, and you have millions of dollars.”

Vote Up3-45Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Pvdh

Why would Phelps wanna go to a random dual meet?

Vote Up18-4Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Pvdh

Dude literally also just had a baby

Vote Up18-2Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Jerimiah Knots

Guys all phelps does is just sit on the couch and wait for his sponsors to “hopefully” come back after his marijuana episode..

Vote Up4-27Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Person

Actually I think he’s busy with his family.

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8 months ago

Bigly

Or his pair of DUIs.

Vote Up0-16Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

sven

Wow, really? Dude really can do everything.

Vote Up20Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Bigly

He went to an ASU basketball game in a speedo and goggles. Why not a swim meet?

Vote Up0-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

dmswim

The ASU basketball game was in town for him because he was training at ASU. Flying to Texas is a bigger commitment.

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8 months ago

Silent Observer

I would think this conference meet would be the lowest on the totem pole (in regards to any of the conference meets) for his attending even being worth it.

And if never a conference meet, he could one day be a guest award presenter or even announcer for NCs

How many requests do you think Michael Phelps gets in an average day to “come on, be a bro, come support us, you’re rirch!”?

I would guess that he gets more than 24 hours worth of requests in a day.

Vote Up30-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

swimmermama

His wife just had their second child, so maybe he’s needed at home right now.

Vote Up21-1Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Bigly

Probably off playing poker.

Vote Up2-9Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

sven

Hopefully he gets an uber on the way home.

Vote Up70Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

A$AP POCKY

What does this even mean lmao

Vote Up20Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

ERVINFORTHEWIN

totally irrelevant

Vote Up30Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Ramsay

What the Haas!?!?

Vote Up8-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Swimmer

He would have finished 7th at ACCs

Vote Up2-10Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Bigly

And beaten by 7 seconds at BIGs.

Vote Up0-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

wild Bill

Has he been sick?

Has the flu hit Texas?

Vote Up2-8Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Bigly

No, he always looks that way.

Vote Up9-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

samuel huntington

Bigly is back! we have missed you

Vote Up2-3Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

ArtVanDeLegh10

It’s a meet that doesn’t matter. Who cares that some of them aren’t lighting it up? If Hass goes 4:16 at NCAAs, then everyone can say how terrible he and Reese are, but until then, as Aaron Rodgers says, “RELAX.”

Vote Up14-2Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Bigly

Ah yes, shades of Clark Smith first defense of his 500 title, finishing 21st in prelims at NCAAs.

Vote Up4-13Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

ArtVanDeLegh10

Or the many other Texas swimmers that sucked at Big 12s, and were just fine at NCAAs. If they suck at NCAAs I’ll say you were right.

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8 months ago

Bigly

Or of Schooling’s 200 fly last year. Point is, it’s not the given you UT fans make it to be.

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8 months ago

ArtVanDeLegh10

Schooling did swim pretty well in the 50 Free and 100 Fly. His 200 Fly sucked, but it’s not like he had a horrible meet. I’m not a UT fan, I’m just very aware of how Texas typically performs at their conference meet and then at NCAAs. I also don’t overreact because of fast or slow in season swimming. I remember when Nathan Adrian would go 19.2s in dual meets only to lose to Josh Schneider at NCAAs later that year. Fast or slow in season swimming is not always a predictor of how you’ll perform at NCAAs. Dressed was swimming awfully slow in dual meets, and it certainly didn’t affect his performances at SECs. There are unlimited examples of… Read more »

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8 months ago

Buona

Chill.. He should be fine. Texas results prior to NCAA is always a cause for concern. Maybe they ‘purposely’ want their opponents to caught off guard. In the end, they delivered for the past 3 years. We will see how it goes this year. I am a little worried for Shebat.

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8 months ago

Bigly

The worry for Shebat started in the summer when he didn’t measure up in the backs. Meanwhile, Ress and others flew by him.

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8 months ago

bill

awww schooling got schooled

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8 months ago

Swimmer

He went 18 in practice

Vote Up12-6Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

Cheatin Vlad

What a turn of events for Schooling these past few years. NCAA/Olympic champ and then here comes Dressel.

Vote Up3-7Vote Down Reply

8 months ago

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona and the University of Florida. She got her M.S. in Criminology from Florida State and seems exceptionally confused about which team she should cheer for during the college football season. Lauren is currently a coach at Loggerhead Aquatics …